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6 easy steps to emptying your business wallet

In the early 1980’s, when I began operational work with businesses, there was a conventional attitude to inventory control. This wisdom measured inventory control by looking at the relative cost of money and the interest charged against having that inventory on the shelf. That attitude saw the creation of robust ERP systems to help managers like me.

Because the recent price of money is so cheap, that business calculation has taken a knock; but the curtain is now drawn back revealing another way to measure the effectiveness of inventory control.

Consider that you have $10,000 per year with which to purchase housewares inventory. And let us suppose that 90% of that inventory sells during the year. At the end of the year 10% of the original $10,000 is still on the shelf. $1000. Theoretically, that means that in the coming year, only $9000 is available to purchase inventory. At the end of that year, assuming 90% sells, the will be $1900 worth of unsold inventory on the shelves. It does not take long to realise that all the cash will shortly be locked up in unsold inventory. The table and chart show how that works.

The result will be, of course, that the company finds itself less and less able to purchase new goods. There may not even be the room on the shelves or in the warehouse to store more purchases. From the customer point of view, the company will be stuffed with dust covered inventory. The company has ground to a halt.

If the dead inventory is converted to cash at even 20 cents on the dollar, you can use that cash to buy goods that will sell and buildup the cash available for further purchases.

Does this ever happen in real life? Yes is the simple answer. A decade ago, the company I managed had $600,000 of inventory of which 30% had no sales in 6 years. This strapped the company for cash. There were items on the shelf due to ordering errors and for which there was not even a market for more than 150 miles.

Recently, an office furniture company called me about their cash problems. They badly needed $100,000. But in their showroom and warehouse they had inventory totalling almost double that. The solution was to have a huge sale and convert everything to cash.

Remember that cash is king and being without it leaves you at the mercy of creditors, suppliers, and landlords. With cash, you have a chance. Even selling goods below cost and converting those goods to cash is better than sitting on mountains of unsold inventory.

Written by Andrew Gregson, Senior Partner at Floodlight Business Solutions and author of Pricing Strategies for Small Business (2008). 1-888-959-0752 www.floodlight.ca. Floodlight Business Solutions, where we help you drive profits.